LOWELL, MA—Freshman outside hitter Masha Yelsukova registered a match-best 16 kills, helping UMass Lowell to a 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-20) victory over visiting NJIT Saturday evening at Costello Athletic Center.

The River Hawks, who played there first 16 matches on the road, opened up at home for the first time in 2014 on Saturday and celebrated the homecoming by snapping an 11-match losing streak to improve to 2-15 on the season, while the Highlanders fall to 4-12.

UMass Lowell had three players reach double-digit kills Saturday, led by Yelsukova's 16, followed by Ella Merrill and Anisa Smith with 13 and 12 kills, respectively.   Merrill finished the match with an impressive .419 hitting percentage on 13 kills, 0 errors and 31 swings, while Smith posted a .344 hitting percentage on 12 kills, 1 error on 32 attempts for the home team.

Setter Kylee Chun piled up a team-high 43 assists, while four different River Hawks recorded double-digit digs, paced by Smith's team-high 16, Hannah Rey (12), Malorie McIver (11) and Chun (10).

For the NJIT, twin sisters Danica Vukotic and Nina Vukotic led the team, posting 11 kills apiece, followed by senior outside hitter Fran Edmondson's 10.  Nina Vukotic notched a double-double with 11 kills and 15 digs to go along with two service aces.

Freshman Kat Janssen and Valerie Carroll added eight kills each and Janssen led the way in front of the net for NJIT combining for four total blocks.

Rookie Alyssa Armada recorded a double-double with a match-best 44 assists and 11 digs.  NJIT libero Camilla Tinari notched a match-high 18 digs, followed by Edmondson (16), Nina Vukotic (15) and Armada (11).

NJIT will return to action on Sunday when the Highlanders visit New Hampshire at 1pm.